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Inflammatory neutrophils (INEs), motivated by cytokines, continue to migrate into the inflamed joints, driving the development of RA. Hence, inducing apoptosis of INEs to reduce recruitment at inflamed joints is an effective strategy for the treatment of RA. However, simply apoptotic INEs may trigger the release of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and accelerate the inflammatory process. To overcome these drawbacks, an RGD-modified bovine serum albumin (BSA) nanoparticles (CBR NPs) was fabricated to selectively target INEs in situ for intracellular delivery of CLT. Studies have demonstrated that CBR NPs can selectively target circulating INEs and induce INEs apoptosis. Meanwhile, CBR NPs inhibited the activation of NETs via NF-κB pathway and the release of Cit-H3 thereby blocking the release process of NETs. In collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mouse model, CBR NPs suppressed the inflammatory response, and reduced the toxic effects of CLT. In summary, this study shed light on an innovative approach to treat RA by inducing apoptosis of circulating INEs and inhibiting NETs. RGD-modified bovine serum albumin (BSA) nanoparticles for delivering celastrol, abbreviated as CBR NPs, were constructed to inhibit the infiltration of circulating inflammatory neutrophils (INEs) into inflamed joints while inhibiting the release of NETs to alleviate tissue damage. CBR NPs were prepared for the first time to induce apoptosis of INEs; CBR NPs could inhibit the release of NETs while inducing apoptosis of INEs in vivo and vitro cellular experiments; CBR NPs had favorable anti-inflammatory effects and low toxicity side-effects in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mouse models. The application of nanotechnology to induce apoptosis of INEs while inhibiting the release of NETs was a promising approach for the treatment of RA. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depression is one of the most common mental diseases, which seriously affects patients' physical and mental health. Emerging evidence has indicated that oxidative stress (OS) is a major cause of neurodegeneration involved in the pathogenesis of depression. Consequently, targeted reactive oxygen species (ROS) elimination is regarded as a promising strategy for efficient depression therapy. In addition, insufficient brain drug delivery is the main obstacle to depression therapy owing to the presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). To achieve the goals of bypassing the BBB and promoting antioxidant therapy for depression, a broad-spectrum ROS scavenging NPs was rationally designed through a nasal-brain pathway developed for combined ROS scavenging and brain drug delivery. A hexa-arginine (R6) modified ROS-responsive dextran (DEX) derivate was synthesized for antidepressant olanzapine (Olz) and H 2 donor amino borane (AB) loading to prepare Olz/RDPA nanoparticles (NPs). Subsequently, the NPs were dispersed into a thermoresponsive hydrogel system based on poloxamer. In vitro and in vivo results demonstrated that Olz/RDPA in situ thermoresponsive hydrogel system could effectively deliver NPs to the brain via the nasal-brain pathway and alleviate depression-like behaviors through combined ROS depletion and inhibition of 5-HT dysfunction of the oxidative stress-induced. The proposed ROS-scavenging nanotherapeutic would open a new window for depression treatment. ROS is an innovative therapeutic target involving the pathology of depression whereas targeted delivery of ROS scavenging has not been achieved yet. In the current study, ROS-responsive nanoparticles (Olz/RDPA NPs) were prepared and dispersed in a thermosensitive hydrogel for delivery through the nasal-brain pathway for the treatment of depression. Sufficient ROS depletion and improvement of delivery capacity by the nasal-brain pathway effectively could reverse oxidative stress and alleviate depressive-like behavior. Collectively, these nanoparticles may represent a promising strategy for the treatment of depression. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, Bi2212 films were prepared on LaAlO 3 (100) and SrTiO 3 (100) substrates by the sol-gel method using Bi(NO 3) 3 ·5H 2 O, Sr(NO 3) 2 , Ca(NO 3) 2 ·4H 2 O and Cu(NO 3) 2 ·3H 2 O as raw materials. TritonX-100 (TX-100), fatty alcohol poly oxyethylene ether (AEO-9), poly (vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) and poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were used as surfactants, respectively, to improve the wettability between the sol and the substrate. When glycine and glycolic acid were used as complexing agents, these surfactants were stably miscible with the sols. The effects of different surfactant sol-gel systems on the wettability of substrates as well as the crystallinity, morphology, surface roughness and electrical transport properties of Bi2212 superconducting films were investigated. The results showed that flat and continuous c -axis epitaxial Bi2212 films were obtained using all these sol-gel systems. In particular, TX-100 and AEO-9 as surfactants showed stronger wettability of the sol-gel for both substrates. In addition, the films prepared using polymer surfactants PVP and PVA sol-gel systems showed less surface roughness. The same patterns were found in all the film samples prepared using precursor sols of different complexing agents, and all the films exhibited good electrical transport properties. This work lays a certain research foundation for the preparation of thin films by aqueous solvent sol-gel method. The method also shows great potential in terms of the stability of different sol-gel systems and the improvement of the wettability of different substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexed sol-gel method has unique advantages in the preparation of multi-component functional thin films. In this paper, Bi2212 superconducting thin films were prepared by sol-gel method on SrTiO 3 (100) single crystal substrates. Glycine and glycolic acid were used as complexing agents. The thermal decomposition processes of the two sols were analyzed by contrasting thermal-thermogravimetric curves. The heat treatment processes of the different complexing agent systems were optimized to obtain films with flatter surface morphology. The phase composition of the intermediate products during the precursor heat treatment was changed by adjusting the conditions of the complexing agent and the acidity of the sol, which expanded the pure phase temperature interval of the final product. The pure phase temperature interval, morphology, surface roughness, and electrical transport properties of Bi2212 superconducting films prepared with different complexing agent sol-gel systems were investigated. When glycolic acid was used as the complexing agent, the Bi-2212 superconducting films showed the widest phase formation temperature zones of 25 K. They also had a smaller surface roughness of 10–15 nm. Other than that, all samples had good epitaxial properties, and electrical transport properties. This work provides a new idea for expanding the phase-forming temperature region of multicomponent functional ceramics. It also shows the promising potential of sol-gel method for preparing multicomponent functional films with high quality surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lead-free ceramics have attracted considerable research attention owing to their environmentally friendly properties as well as their relatively good piezoelectric properties. Herein, we doped BiCoO 3 (BCO) onto (Bi 0.5 Na 0.5)TiO 3 –6BaTiO 3 (BNT-6BT) solid solution at various concentrations and investigated their dielectric and piezoelectric properties. After comparing the Rietveld refinement data with X-ray diffraction (XRD) results, it was found that all the BNT-6BT- x BCO ceramics (x = 0, 0.5%, 1%, and 1.5%) showed the morphotropic phase boundary conformation with coexisting tetragonal (P4bm) and cubic (Pm 3 (＿) m) phases. XRD refinement data also demonstrated that with increasing BCO concentration to 1.5%, the mole ratio between the tetragonal and cubic phases was close to 1:1, which enhanced the piezoelectric performance of the ceramic composites. At a BCO concentration of 1.5%, the strain and piezoelectric coefficient (d 33) of the sample reached 0.31% and 196 pC/N, respectively. The highest effective d 33 * of 489 pm/V was obtained at 110 °C with BNT-6BT-1.5BCO ceramics. The BNT-6BT-xBCO ceramics show great promise for use in high-temperature actuator applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new deep learning-based architecture, referred as the IMSF-Net, is proposed for estimating the BP in an automatic end-to-end way. • The proposed IMSF block can help enhance the ability of the multi-scale network to capture both local and global information, leading to improved accuracy. • The interpretability method was firstly introduced on a deep BP estimation model to explore and understand what parts of the PPG are most useful for automatic BP estimation, which may contribute to future model application and optimization. • The IMSF-Net achieves promising results using only the PPG. Recently, deep learning (DL) architectures have been widely used for PPG-based blood pressure (BP) monitoring due to their powerful feature extraction ability. However, the DL methods still suffer from limitations. First, the multi-scale time dependency characteristics of PPG require the DL-based methods to have the ability of sufficient feature representation at various scales. Second, the lack of DL model interpretability can lead to concerns about the reliability and generalizability of prediction. In this study, a new PPG-based end-to-end deep learning method, referred to as the IMSF-Net, is proposed for BP estimation, and its advantages are as follows: (1) the improved multi-scale fusion (IMSF) block is designed to extract different-scale feature in a two-channel way, which can obtain the abstract high-level information while avoiding low-level information loss simultaneously; (2) Permutation importance algorithm is firstly adopted to determine what parts of PPG are most useful for automatic BP estimation. On the University of California, Irvine database, the proposed IMSF-Net achieves mean absolute error (MAE) ± standard deviation (STD) of 2.07 ± 2.32 mmHg for systolic blood pressure (SBP) and 1.21 ± 1.51 mmHg for diastolic blood pressure (DBP). On the healthy database, referred to as the VDB, the method achieves MAE ± STD of 1.75 ± 3.98 mmHg for SBP and 1.29 ± 2.3 mmHg for DBP. Both of the performances outperform related previous works. The model interpretation results show that feature grids comprising of Diastolic 1–3, and Systolic 5, which generally cover the waveform from the peak point to the dicrotic notch, have a strong correlation with BP estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Double-peak age strengthening phenomenon was first found in the Cu–Be–Ni–Co alloys. • The coherency strengthening of tiny nanoprecipitates contributes significantly to the appearance of first peak. • The light-mass Be atoms were directly made out by using the iDPC-STEM technology. Unconventional double-peak age strengthening phenomenon has occasionally been observed in some alloys, yet the underlying mechanism responsible for this phenomenon are still unclear. Here, we for the first time report the double-peak age strengthening phenomenon in the Cu–Be–Ni–Co alloys and try to unveil the underlying mechanism. Both the theoretical and experimental analyses demonstrate that the strong coherency strengthening effect of tiny nanoprecipitates (<1 nm) contributes significantly to the appearance of first peak, whereas the order-to-Orowan strengthening transformation accounts for the appearance of second peak. Moreover, the precipitate evolution processes of the alloys are identified as Guinier–Preston (GP) zones → γ′′→ γ′ and the light-mass Be atoms in the γ′ phase are directly made out by using integrated differential phase-contrast scanning transmission electron microscopy (iDPC-STEM) technology. Our work may provide new insights into the coherency strengthening effects and demonstrates a powerful strategy for designing high performance via double-peak behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that is challenging to treat. Fritillaria unibracteata var. wabuensis (FUW) is the plant origin for the famous Chinese antitussive medicine Fritillaria Cirrhosae Bulbus. The total alkaloids of Fritillaria unibracteata var. wabuensis bulbus (TAs-FUW) have anti-inflammatory properties and may be used to treat asthma. To explore whether TAs-FUW have bioactivity against airway inflammation and a therapeutic effect on chronic asthma. The alkaloids were extracted via ultrasonication in a cryogenic chloroform-methanol solution after ammonium-hydroxide percolation of the bulbus. UPLC-Q-TOF/MS was used to characterize the composition of TAs-FUW. An ovalbumin (OVA)-induced asthmatic mouse model was established. We used whole-body plethysmography, ELISA, western blotting, RT-qPCR, and histological analyses to assess the pulmonary pathological changes in these mice after TAs-FUW treatment. Additionally, TNF-α/IL-4–induced inflammation in BEAS-2B cells was used as an in vitro model, whereby the effects of various doses of TAs-FUW on the TRPV1/Ca2+-dependent NFAT-induced expression of TSLP were assessed. Stimulation and inhibition of TRPV1 receptors by capsaicin (CAP) and capsazepine (CPZ), respectively, were used to validate the effect of TAs-FUW. The UPLC-Q-TOF/MS analysis revealed that TAs-FUW mainly contain six compounds (peiminine, peimine, edpetiline, khasianine, peimisine, and sipeimine). TAs-FUW improved airway inflammation and obstruction, mucus secretion, collagen deposition, and leukocyte and macrophage infiltration, and downregulated TSLP by inhibiting the TRPV1/NFAT pathway in asthmatic mice. In vitro , the application of CPZ demonstrated that the TRPV1 channel is involved in TNF-α/IL-4–mediated regulation of TSLP. TAs-FUW suppressed TNF-α/IL-4–induced TSLP generation expression by regulating the TRPV1/Ca2+/NFAT pathway. Furthermore, TAs-FUW reduced CAP-induced TSLP release by inhibiting TRPV1 activation. Notably, sipeimine and edpetiline each were sufficient to block the TRPV1-mediated Ca2+ influx. Our study is the first to demonstrate that TNF-α/IL-4 can activate the TRPV1 channel. TAs-FUW can alleviate asthmatic inflammation by suppressing the TRPV1 pathway and thereby preventing the increase in cellular Ca2+ influx and the subsequent NFAT activation. The alkaloids in FUW may be used for complementary or alternative therapies in asthma. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of gas sensors based on metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) with highly regular morphology, highly stable structures, and easy preparation is greatly desired but remains a challenge. Herein, we first prepared a highly regular array of TiO 2 nanorods on FTO by a modified in situ hydrothermal method. Then a uniform SnO 2 layer grew on the nanorods to form a core-shell nanocomposite by an ion-layer adsorption-reaction process. The TiO 2 /SnO 2 sensors show enhanced gas sensing performance compared with the TiO 2 sensors, including higher sensitivity to ethanol, lower working temperature, and better long-term stability. And the highest ethanol response can be obtained when the growth cycle of the SnO 2 shell was two times. The gas-sensing mechanism of the TiO 2 /SnO 2 nanocomposites was discussed concerning the unique core-shell structure and a heterojunction between TiO 2 and SnO 2. • Core-shell TiO 2 /SnO 2 nanorod arrays were prepared via a facile two-step method. • The TiO 2 /SnO 2 exhibited better ethanol sensing properties compared with pristine TiO 2. • The enhanced ethanol sensitivity mechanism of TiO 2 /SnO 2 was discussed detailed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The durability of the current polymeric heart valves remains to be improved, which has proven to be highly dynamics and species dependent. Herein, inspired by the fiber-reinforced structure of native valve leaflets, we developed a valve prototype with the polymer matrix reinforced by NiTi wires in the radial direction, to achieve both desirable dynamics control and stress reduction. Textile technology and computer modeling were primarily utilized for integrated construction and biomimetic geometry. The NiTi-reinforced textile composites had suitable properties with valve leaflets. The pulsating flow tests confirmed that the systolic hemodynamics and leaflet kinetics were significantly optimized through the stiffness-domination of NiTi wires. Particle imaging velocimetry measurements revealed the satisfactory flow field characteristic for VP40-RA6 when compared with other reinforced valves. Furthermore, the finite element analysis indicated that the maximum principal stress and the area percentage of that were significantly reduced. As a preliminary proof-of-concept, this novel valve prototype exhibited excellent comprehensive performance which would be beneficial for the further improvement of long-term durability and provide new insight into the design modification of heart valve prosthesis. [Display omitted] • The valve prototype was built by integrated textile technology and computer modeling. • The valve prototype exhibited excellent hemodynamics indicators and leaflet kinetics. • The flow field characteristic was satisfactory. • The polymer matrix within the hybrid leaflet sustained lower stress level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of efficient, environmentally friendly soil amendments is necessary in order to minimize the risk of metal contaminants (Cd, Pb, Cu, and Zn) to the soil ecosystem. As soil amendments, bovine bone meal (BM) and oyster shell meal (OS) reduced the mobility and bioavailability of metals primarily by increasing soil pH. Soil geochemical properties (pH, EC, CEC, Ca, P, and K) after amendment supplementation were more likely to affect metal migration than enzyme activity. Furthermore, BM and OS were found to suppress the Cd and Pb uptake by water spinach, keeping them below international standards for safe utilization. The protein and sugar content and peroxidase (POD) activity showed a significant negative correlation with the amount of metal in water spinach, whereas superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activities and malondialdehyde (MDA) content exhibited a positive correlation with metal content in water spinach. We also found that BM and OS had less perturbation to phylum-level and genus-level bacterial composition during the remediation of heavy metals contaminated soil. Based on the above, we assume that BM and OS are eco-friendly soil amendments, which could improve soil nutrients contents, stabilize heavy metals and regulate bacterial community structure. Our research contributes to resource utilization of waste and holds promise for widespread application in current agricultural systems. [Display omitted] • BM and OS reduced the bioavailability of Cd, Pb, Cu, and Zn in soil. • BM and OS inhibited the uptake of Cd, Pb, Cu, and Zn by water spinach. • BM and OS reduced the abundance of metal-tolerant bacteria in soil. • Major geochemical factors altering the bacterial community were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an urgent medical need to develop effective therapies that can ameliorate damage to the radiation-exposed hematopoietic system. Nanozymes with robust antioxidant properties have a therapeutic potential for mitigating radiation-induced hematopoietic injury. However, enhancing nanozyme recruitment to injured tissues in vivo while maintaining their catalytic activity remains a great challenge. Herein, we present the design and preparation of a biomimetic nanoparticle, a mesenchymal stem cell membrane camouflaged Prussian blue nanozyme (PB@MSCM), which exhibits biocompatible surface properties and demonstrates enhanced injury site-targeting towards the irradiated murine bone marrow niche. Notably, the constructed PB@MSCM possessed redox enzyme-mimic catalytic activity and could scavenge overproduced reactive oxygen species in the irradiated bone marrow cells, both in vitro and ex vivo. More importantly, the administration of PB@MSCM significantly mitigated hematopoietic cell apoptosis and accelerated the regeneration of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Our findings provide a new targeted strategy to improve nanozyme therapy in vivo and mitigate radiation-induced hematopoietic injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As cities continuously expand and with the emergence of mega-city regions, the urban functional zones (UFZs) have spread beyond their original administrative boundaries. An accurate and updated delineation of the UFZs is crucial for assessing the functional integration between cities within a mega-city region. Mobility data provides a chance to depict the UFZs from actual human activities at a finer spatial scale. Existing studies mostly adopted network-based approaches relying on the topological relationship but ignoring spatial factors, causing the lack of sensitivity in detecting the cross-cities integration of the functional region. This research proposed a novel regionalisation algorithm that redraws non-overlap boundaries of urban functional zones based on the commuting origin-destination matrix, representing the spatial interactions within cities and cross-cities. In particular, functional zones are drawn by searching for the best partition with the best goodness of fitting in the hierarchical spatial interaction model. The algorithm was applied to a case study of a mega-city region, Shenzhen-Dongguan-Huizhou (SDH) area in China using mobile phone signalling data. By adopting two different settings, this model evaluated the current status and predict the future trend of urban integration respectively. The results show the current boundary of UFZs in the SDH area almost coincides with administrative boundaries. Meanwhile, the results of long-term predictions might be utilised by policymakers to give more attention to the areas near the Dongguan-Huizhou boundary to promote industry cooperation and avoid mismatches between the functional and administrative regions. • A hierarchical spatial interaction model for delineating urban functional zones. • An iteration-based algorithm for searching for the best partition of urban functional zones. • Using emerging mobile phone data for urban planning applications. • A case study of the SDH Area provides insights into cross-boundary city integration and related policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the impact of prophylactic zone 0 replacement with prosthetic grafts on the long-term prognosis and perioperative safety of zone 0 hybrid arch repair (HAR) when zone 0 is neither dilated nor pathologic. We retrospectively reviewed 115 patients whose zone 0 aorta was neither dilated nor pathologic and who underwent zone 0 HAR from January 2009 to December 2020 and divided then into two groups depending on whether zone 0 was replaced, with 46 patients in the no-replacement group and 69 patients in the replacement group. Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) was used to balance the baseline difference, and outcomes were compared after IPTW adjustment. The primary end points were overall survival and adverse aortic events (AAEs). The secondary end points were early composite adverse events and other perioperative complications. Subgroup analysis was performed by age, diagnosis, zone 0 maximum diameter and risk stratification. The 5-year IPTW-adjusted overall survival rate was 84% in the no-replacement group 90% in the replacement group (P =.61). With death as a competing risk, the IPTW-adjusted cumulative incidence of AAEs at 5 and 10 years was 23% and 41% in the no-replacement group, and 14% and 25% in the replacement group, respectively (subdistribution hazard ratio [sHR], 0.56; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.23-1.39; P =.23). Considering proximal complications alone, the replacement group exhibited lower 5-year (3% vs 18%) and 10-year (6% vs 36%) cumulative incidences of proximal complications (sHR, 0.11; 95% CI, 0.01-0.91; P =.04) after IPTW adjustment. A subgroup analysis demonstrated that the benefits of zone 0 replacement in decreasing AAEs were observed in those aged 60 years or less (sHR, 0.15; 95% CI, 0.03-0.75; P =.02) and those with type B aortic dissection (sHR, 0.24; 95% CI, 0.07-0.82; P =.02). Additionally, zone 0 replacement did not increase early composite adverse event morbidity (9% vs 21%; P =.08) or early mortality (7% vs 6%; P =.87). Although zone 0 was neither dilated nor pathologic, prophylactic zone 0 replacement in zone 0 HAR significantly decreased the incidence of proximal complications, without impairing perioperative safety. Additionally, this strategy was associated with benefits in reducing AAEs in younger patients and patients with type B aortic dissection. Thus, prophylactic zone 0 replacement should be considered for reconstructing a stable proximal landing zone in zone 0 HAR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Straw and biochar amendments have been shown to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in arable land; however, their effects on hydrological fluxes of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), which may offset the benefits of C sequestration amounts remain uncertain. Therefore, we conducted a three-year field study that included four treatments (CK, control with no fertilizer; NPK, synthetic N fertilizer; RSDNPK, synthetic N fertilizer plus crop residues; BCNPK, synthetic N fertilizer plus biochar of crop straw) to investigate the effects of straw and biochar amendment on DOC losses through hydrological pathways of overland flow and interflow from a wheat-maize rotation system in the subtropical montane agricultural landscape. We detected substantial intra- and inter-annual variations in runoff discharge, DOC concentration, and DOC fluxes for both overland flow and interflow pathways, which were primarily attributed to variations in rainfall amount and intensity. On average, the DOC concentrations for interflow (2.98 mg C L−1) were comparable with those for overland flow (2.71 mg C L−1) throughout the three-year experiment. However, average annual DOC fluxes for interflow were approximately 2.60 times greater than those for overland flow, which probably related to higher runoff discharges of interflow than overland flow. Compared to the control, on average, the N fertilization treatments significantly decreased the annual DOC fluxes of overland flow and significantly increased annual DOC fluxes of interflow. Relative to the application of synthetic N fertilizer only, on average, crop straw amendment practice significantly increased annual DOC fluxes of interflow by 28.7%, while decreasing annual DOC fluxes of overland flow by 12.0%; in contrast, biochar amendment practice decreased annual DOC fluxes of interflow by 25.3% while increasing annual DOC fluxes of overland flow by 44.6%. Overall, considering both overland flow and interflow, crop straw amendment significantly increased hydrological DOC fluxes, whereas biochar had no significant effects on hydrological DOC fluxes throughout the three-year experiment. We conclude that crop straw incorporation strategies that aim to increase SOC stocks may enhance hydrological losses of DOC, thereby in turn offsetting its benefits in the subtropical montane agricultural landscapes. [Display omitted] • Incorporation of crop straw significantly increased hydrological DOC loss. • Biochar has no significant effects on hydrological DOC loss. • Rainfall amount and intensity controlled hydrological DOC loss. • Increase in hydrological DOC loss by crop straw incorporation offset the benefit of SOC stock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A homozygous SHMT2 knockout (SHMT2-KO) human embryonic stem cell (hESC) line was generated. • Confirmation of the pluripotency and multi-lineage differentiation potential of this SHMT2-KO hESC line. • SHMT2-KO hESC line provides a valuable model for assessing SHMT2 functions in human embryonic development. Serine hydroxymethyltransferase 2 (SHMT2), a catalytic enzyme playing an important role in aerobic cellular respiration and mitochondrial metabolism, might be pivotal in self-renewal and differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells. Herein, we used the CRISPR/Cas9 editing system to construct a homozygous SHMT2 knockout (SHMT2-KO) human embryonic stem cell (hESC) line, exhibiting a normal karyotype, colony morphology, and high expression levels of pluripotent proteins. Furthermore, SHMT2 knockout did not impact the self-renewal ability or differentiation potential into three germ layers of hESCs. Accordingly, this cell line provides a valuable model for further assessing SHMT2 functions in human embryonic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ionizing radiation-induced DNA damages cause genome instability and are highly cytotoxic. Deoxyribonucleotide metabolism provides building blocks for DNA repair. Nevertheless, how deoxyribonucleotide metabolism is timely regulated to coordinate with DNA repair remains elusive. Here, we show that ionizing radiation results in TBK1-mediated phosphorylation of phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate synthetase (PRPS)1/2 at T228, thereby enhancing PRPS1/2 catalytic activity and promoting deoxyribonucleotide synthesis. DNA damage-elicited activation of cGAS/STING axis and ATM-mediated PRPS1/2 S16 phosphorylation are required for PRPS1/2 T228 phosphorylation under ionizing radiation. Furthermore, T228 phosphorylation overrides allosteric regulator-mediated effects and preserves PRPS1/2 with high activity. The expression of non-phosphorylatable PRPS1/2 mutants or inhibition of cGAS/STING axis counteracts ionizing radiation-induced PRPS1/2 activation, deoxyribonucleotide synthesis, and DNA repair, and further impairs cell viability. This study highlights a novel and important mechanism underlying an innate immune response-guided deoxyribonucleotide metabolism, which supports DNA repair. [Display omitted] • ATM phosphorylates PRPS1/2 in response to ionizing radiation-induced DNA damage • TBK1 phosphorylates PRPS1/2 in an ATM- and cGAS/STING-dependent manner • TBK1-mediated PRPS1/2 phosphorylation activates PRPS1/2 • PRPS1/2 activation promotes deoxyribonucleotide synthesis and DNA repair Liu et al. demonstrate that ionizing radiation-elicited DNA damages induce ATM and cGAS/STING/TBK1-dependent phosphorylation and activation of PRPS1/2, which accelerate the rate-limiting step during nucleotide synthesis, resulting in increased deoxyribonucleotide production, enhanced DNA repair, and elevated cell viability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fuyang River system (FRS) in north China, for a long time, is seriously polluted with organic compounds and heavy metals due to industrialization. However, the information on heavy metal pollution in this area is still limited, and health risks raised by trace elements are neglected up to now. To characterize the heavy metal pollutants and assess their potential ecological risks scientifically in FRS, surface sediments were collected from 66 sampling sites selected according to the hydrological and anthropogenic conditions along the river. A total of twelve metal pollutants (e.g., Cr, As, and Hg) in the sediments were detected among the distributaries. A combining application of geoaccumulation index (I geo) , ratio of secondary phase and primary phase (RSP) , and the ecological risk factor (Er i ) in this study gave systematic assessment results of single or combined pollution status raised by heavy metals in this area. The results show that Cr, Ni, Cu, As, Cd, Co, and Sn are mainly dispersed in the river reaches of Xingtai City and pose potential health risks in midstream, as per the geoaccumulation index and Pearson's correlation analyses. In particular, Cd accumulates strongly in sediments of Ming River and Aixinzhuang dam from Xingtai City. In upstream and downstream of FRS, the potential ecological risk is low, except in Yongnian County where high ecological risk was caused by Cd and Hg. These findings provide new insights into the pollution characteristics and assessment of the potential ecological risks induced by heavy metals along FRS, which suggest new directions should strategically tend to typical pollutants control by policy formulation and taking effective measures to prevent and manage heavy metal pollution in North China. [Display omitted] • Multiple heavy metals pollution in FRS in North China was surveyed and assessed. • Distribution and pollution status of heavy metals in the FRS were characterized. • The health risk raised by heavy metals along the FRS was systematically evaluated. • The correlations between pollution and human activities along the river was built. Heavy metal pollution in Fuyang river system in North China are systematically characterized and the ecological risks are assessed through I geo , RSP, and Er i . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

W–Re alloys find wide application in high-temperature measurements and as components of engines and aircraft. However, their low oxidation and thermal shock resistances have limited their application at high temperatures in oxidized atmospheres. In this work, an inner WSi 2 coating was first prepared on the surface of the W-26Re alloy by pack cementation. Subsequently, an outer ZrB 2 -HfO 2 -SiC (ZHS) coating was prepared by the sol-gel method and blade coating, using self-prepared nano-HfO 2 fibers introduced in different ratios (0%, 3%, 6%, and 9%). Following thermal shock tests at 1073–1773 K, the coatings toughened by nano-HfO 2 fibers with high melting point (above 3000 K) showed better thermal shock resistance, especially the 6% HfO 2 -doped coatings. The 6%Hf-ZHS coating underwent the highest number of thermal shock cycles (369), 385.5% and 210.1% higher than those experienced by W-26Re and ZHS. In addition, the thermal shock resistance of ZHS was 56.6% better than of the bare W-26Re alloy. Finally, the protection mechanism of the above coatings was explained by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antiferroelectric film capacitors have attracted increasing attention due to their excellent energy storage properties. In this work, PbZrO 3 (PZO) antiferroelectric films have been prepared on the flexible fluorphlogopite (Mica) and rigid Pt/Ti/SiO 2 /Si substrates with a seed layer of LaNiO 3 (LNO) layer by sol-gel process. The microstructure and energy storage properties of the films have been systematically studied. The results show that the Mica-Pt-LNO-PZO (M -LNO-PZO) thin film has an improved energy storage density (W rec) of 16.6 J/cm3 with a charge and discharge efficiency (η) of 50.4%. Furthermore, the flexible thin films exhibit good stability under a wide working temperature range of 25–140 °C and an electric fatigue endurance of 107 cycles. Besides, the capacitive films can endure a bending radius of 4 mm and 104 bending cycles (@ r = 4 mm) with almost unchanged in the energy storage properties. The excellent energy storage properties endow inorganic thin films with great potential in flexible electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pt-loaded curling-like Bi 2 WO 6 (BWO) microdiscs were fabricated via a simple one-step hydrothermal and impregnation route. Various characterization methods, such as XRD, EDS and TEM, were conducted to prove the successful Pt loading. Electron migration from the semiconductor BWO to the precious metal Pt was revealed by the blue shift of the Bi 4f and W 4f XPS peaks with the increase of the Pt loading amount and the ∼10-fold baseline resistance elevation of the BWO-based sensor by the Pt loading, proving the formation of Schottky junction. Among the pristine BWO and Pt-loaded BWO with different Pt loading amounts, 1 wt % Pt-loaded BWO exhibits the highest gas response of 209 in sensing 500 ppm triethylamine at 300 °C, a minimal selectivity coefficient of 130.6 against some typical interfering gases at the same concentration and a low detection threshold of 1 ppm. Additionally, the sensitization mechanism is discussed as the synergistic effect of noble metal catalytic effect and metal-semiconductor junctions. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major difficulty in integrating large scale wind power generation in an electrical power system is that wind generated power appears to be erratic, intermittent, and volatile. In this paper, we demonstrate the efficacies of a novel ultra short term 1-step ahead wind generated power prediction model, by combining two best of breed machine learning models in their respective areas of applications: a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) model, known to be effective in classification problems, and a bi-directional long short term memory (Bi-LSTM) model, known to be effective in 1-step ahead time series prediction problems, using a cross attention (XA) mechanism on three challenging practical datasets: the East-China dataset, the Yalova (Turkey) dataset, and the 16 MW dataset. There are two alternative cross attention models: (1) using the CNN features as the key–value pair, and the Bi-LSTM features as the query, this we called a XA model, and (2) using the Bi-LSTM features as the key–value pair, and the CNN features as the query, this we called a XA_I model; we found empirically for a properly chosen sliding window length, whichever CNN model or Bi-LSTM model performs well in the 1-step ahead prediction, then its features should be used as the query in the cross attention mechanism, thus, the XA achieves better results than XA_I on the East-China dataset, while XA_I achieves better results than XA on the Yalova dataset, and on the 16 MW dataset. Where comparable results using other state-of-the-art models are available on the Yalova dataset and the 16 MW dataset, we found that our XA_I results are superior. Moreover, it is found empirically, that the cross attention mechanism model produces stable k -step ahead predictions, for k ≤ W 2 , where W is the sliding window length. • A novel prediction model for wind generated power based on cross attention mechanism has been proposed. • The proposed method demonstrated on three practical datasets to have superior performance. • The cross attention mechanism based models give a stable multi-step ahead prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A new method was proposed for preparing modified clays to control harmful algae blooms: single source with series modifications. • Kaolin that was modified by the new method could remove over 85% of Prorocentrum donghaiense cells. • Calcination, acid–alkali treatment, and the supplementation of raw kaolin during aging were indispensable processing steps in the new method. • A schematic mechanism of kaolin modification by the new method to obtain modified clay with high algal cell removal efficiency was illustrated. Modified clay (MC) is an effective and eco-friendly material that is widely used for controlling harmful algae blooms (HABs). In this study, a new method—single source with series modifications (SSSM)—was optimized for preparing a high-quality MC, and aluminum-rich clay (kaolin) was activated with a multistep treatment that included calcination (Cal), acid etching with alkali neutralization (Al–An), and raw clay supplementation and aging (RSA). The results showed that the removal efficiency of Prorocentrum donghaiense by the SSSM–MC exceeded 85%; Cal, Al–An, and RSA were indispensable processing steps for preparing the best MC with the SSSM method. The changes occurring in the mineral structure and chemical composition of kaolin treated by the different steps were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, 27Al-NMR and Al-Ferron. Surface dehydroxylation and disruption of the kaolin lattice after calcination significantly changed the aluminum structure from AlVI to AlV and AlIV. The relatively reactive AlV was readily released from the kaolin lattice with acid etching, and it subsequently reacted with external OH– to generate different polyhydroxyaluminum species because alkali was added during the Al–An step. The acidity of the above complex was further decreased by RSA, greatly increasing the yield of SSSM–MC while assuring the quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]